The Voice's Dez Duron Talks Being Christina's Last Man Standing and Tackling The Biebs — Exclusive

During The Voice live shows last night, Dez Duron went boldly where few have gone before — to the land of Bieber Fever. Team Christina’s only remaining contestant tackled the teen heartthrob’s “U Smile,” putting his own soulful spin on the popular song. When Wetpaint Entertainment caught up with him on the red carpet after the show, he talked about his preparation for the song, the pressure of being Xtina’s only hope, and his parents’ newfound support.Wetpaint Entertainment: You’re the last man standing on Team Christina. Is that a lot of pressure?Dez Duron: You know, I want to see her make it as far as she deserves to, which is to the end. I’m the last one here to take her there, and I definitely want to make her proud. Being the last one left on her team, do you get a lot of one-on-one attention and feedback from her?She’s always put in the effort with all of us, so I don’t expect much change because I don’t think it could get much better. She’s amazing. It is great to have just her sole attention, and we get to just focus on what we’re doing — that’s the great part. I miss my teammates. I miss Sylvia, Devyn, De’Bo, and Adriana, but it is cool to be the last one here.Have you talked to any of them since being eliminated?Yeah. I’m always talking to them. Sylvia sent me a video of our new handshake even if she’s not here to make it to the next round. It’s hard seeing people go, but I keep on doing this for them.Was the Justin Bieber song your idea?It was Christina’s idea. I knew the song and I liked the song, but I knew that Bieber is huge, so that’s a little scary. When I heard what me and the band came up with Christina, I was like, "This is me. This is “U Smile” by Dez now."You mentioned that your parents were sad that you dropped out of school to pursue music. After watching you on The Voice, are they starting to get it now?Well they always go it, but it’s just scary — the unknown of music and all of that. My parents were in music, so they understand how it can pull your heart and make you want to just dive right in. I think it was just a very proud moment when we got that [Yale] acceptance letter and I think that they were looking forward to graduation and everything like that, and understandably so. There are times when I look back and I’m like, "Man. My best friends are all graduating this year and I’m not going to be there." But [my parents] were definitely supporting me 100 percent. I think they would support me if I was singing on the side of the street. They know that it’s my heart and I’m the happiest doing this.Are you getting used to all of this? In addition to just singing: the clothes, wearing stage makeup, choreographing your moves ...Every week is a dream come true, and I never want to get used to it. I want to stay in this fantasy world. The minute it loses it’s magic, I don’t think it will be half as fun. I’m trying to stay like a little kid in a candy store.How did you feel about the feedback that you received tonight?I appreciated it. I appreciated what Cee Lo said because he’s always been so nice to me and said such great things to me, so when he is honest with me like that, it verifies everything that he’s said in the past to me. That means that he really means it. The fact that Cee Lo Green has a high standard for me as a vocalist is an amazing thing to me, and I’m just going to work harder. If I get another week, I’m just going to go out there and make him proud next week.Do you have anything planned in the coming weeks or anything you’d love to perform?Who knows? It’s going to be soulful, I can guarantee that. I would love to just scale it back and sing something really heartfelt and just lay my soul out on the stage. That would be nice.And put The Biebs on hold for a while?He’s got some good ballads. We’ll look through The Biebs’ catalog maybe! [Laughs]Do you think Dez has what it takes to win? Weigh in below!